Answer: Look at room utilization, staffing relative to procedural demand, coverage needs, billable units, payer yield and hospital overtime. Each serves a different purpose. Keep the discussion focused on the relationship each measure addresses: room activity, staffing needs, practice finances or hospital costs.
The short answer
A practice management consultant says anesthesia departments can use operating room utilization data to help manage rooms more efficiently. An ambulatory surgery center advisor says collaboration with the center creates a manageable utilization metric and allows staffing to be tailored to needs.
For an owner, those are connected questions: how rooms are used and how staffing relates to demand. Keep both in view when discussing operations with the facility.
An operations consultant explains that anesthesia services span procedural areas with distinct workflows, demand patterns and coverage needs. Those differences add management complexity. The staffing discussion needs that procedural area context.
What usually goes wrong
A financial discussion can blur the distinction between billable activity and payer yield. A practice management executive says poor room utilization limits billable units, while a weaker payer mix lowers yield per unit. Both can contribute to a practice's need for facility support. Keep those financial pressures separate when discussing the reason for that support.
Coverage also needs its own discussion. The operations consultant points to differences in workflows, demand and coverage across procedural areas. A conversation about staffing should account for those differences.
Sharing utilization information is only part of the work. The practice management consultant cautions that sharing data is not a quick fix for underutilization. The ambulatory surgery center advisor emphasizes integration and collaboration in connecting utilization with staffing needs.
What a veteran checks first
- Room utilization: how room activity informs more efficient room management, as the practice management consultant explains.
- Staffing relative to demand: how collaboration helps tailor staffing to needs, as the ambulatory surgery center advisor explains.
- Procedural area context: the distinct workflows, demand patterns and coverage needs identified by the operations consultant.
- Billable units: the activity measure the practice management executive connects with room utilization.
- Payer yield: the separate financial measure that executive connects with payer mix.
- Hospital overtime: the nursing and technician costs an anesthesia executive says operating room efficiency can reduce.
What the measures tell you
Utilization belongs in the room management conversation. The practice management consultant pairs that use with a caution about expecting data sharing alone to fix underutilization.
Staffing belongs alongside procedural demand and coverage needs. The ambulatory surgery center advisor connects collaboration with staffing tailored to needs. The operations consultant adds the context of different procedural workflows.
Financial results require two distinct questions. The practice management executive connects room utilization with billable units and payer mix with yield per unit.
Hospital overtime addresses another consequence of room efficiency. An anesthesia executive says more efficient operating rooms can reduce hospital overtime costs for nurses and technicians. Keep that hospital cost discussion distinct from the question of anesthesia staffing needs.
Questions to bring to the partner meeting
- What does the utilization information show about room activity?
- How does staffing relate to demand and coverage needs in each procedural area?
- How are billable units and payer yield being distinguished?
- How does facility collaboration help connect utilization with staffing needs?
- Are we discussing room activity, anesthesia staffing, practice finances or hospital overtime?
Sources
- Alex Cari, president of CCI Anesthesia
- FTI Consulting
- Jody Locke, MA
- Tony Mira, President and CEO
- Wes Battiste, ASC developer and anesthesia practice advisor
